Chen column stirs up old DPP leadership rivalries

Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday denied she feuded with former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) when she was Su’s deputy in the former DPP administration.

Tsai issued the statement in response to a weekly column by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in the Chinese-language Next Magazine yesterday that said Su had tried several times to replace Tsai in 2006 and 2007.

Chen, who is serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence on corruption charges, did not elaborate on why the two feuded.

Chen also wrote that, following his re-election in 2004, Tsai, who was head of the Mainland Affairs Council from 2000 to 2004, refused to join the Cabinet if Yu Shyi-kun was retained as premier.

Tsai’s office and that of Su, the incumbent DPP chairman, both denied the report and said the two enjoyed a solid working relationship during the period in question.

Tsai said in a press release that her decision to withdraw from the Cabinet had nothing to do with her relationship with Yu and that Chen appeared to have “memory lapses” in his recollection of the events.

DPP spokesperson Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) said Tsai had Su’s full trust when the two worked together.

Chen warned Su that all politicians need to “gamble” at some point in their political career, adding that Su, who is believed to be interested in running for president in 2016, “will never enter the game until he perceives it as winnable.”

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